Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet

Conductor Hugh Wolff returns to the Seattle Symphony for the first time in over 25 years, joined by international star and beloved Tacoma-area mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and the Seattle Symphony Chorale to perform Berlioz’s exquisite musical rendering of the most famous play about star-crossed lovers, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Written as a “dramatic symphony” with chorus and soloists, it was indirectly inspired by Beethoven’s Ninth; the chorus is meant to represent the two warring families, solo voices the secondary characters, while the lovers themselves are represented purely by the orchestra, combining the immediacy of sung words with the expressive power of instrumental music. Rather than being a literal retelling, his musical depiction of the tragedy focuses on the intense emotions, love and death, and is rooted in Berlioz’s passionate response to Shakespeare and actress Harriet Smithson, who acted in the first and only version of the play that he experienced, and later became his wife.